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Activists with Greenpeace North Carolina and Charlotte Environmental Action attempted to deliver a fake check for $10 billion from Duke Energy to the U.S. Senate campaign office of state House Speaker Thom Tillis last week to draw attention to his role in weakening coal ash cleanup legislation. (Photo by Brieanna Carey for Greenpeace.)

INSTITUTE INDEX: Letting Duke Energy off the hook for its coal ash mess

Date on which Duke Energy contractors finished their cleanup of coal ash left in the Dan River by a February spill from one of the company's dumps: 7/3/2014

Estimated tons of coal ash that spilled from Duke's retired Dan River plant when a pipe beneath the dump broke: 39,000

Percent of the spilled coal ash that's being left behind in the river post-cleanup: more than 90

Miles of the Dan River the spill left coated in toxic gray coal ash sludge, which contains toxins including arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury: 70

Depth in inches of coal ash deposits that reportedly remain in sections of the river just a few inches below the sandy bottom, where it could be stirred up by heavy flows: 2 to 4

Number of farms along the Dan River between the site where the spill occurred and the Virginia border, some of which use the river for irrigation or watering livestock: about 20

Tons of coal ash spilled into the Emory River in the 2008 disaster at TVA's Kingston plant in eastern Tennessee: 1.4 million

Percent of that coal ash that was eventually removed from the river: 65

Total number of coal ash pits Duke Energy has at its 14 plants across North Carolina: 33

Percent of those pits that are leaking toxins to groundwater and waterways: 100

Under legislation now being considered by North Carolina lawmakers, number of those leaking coal ash pits that would be targeted for immediate cleanup, including the one on the Dan River: 4

Date on which the N.C. Senate rejected the House version of the bill because it extended the cleanup's timeline and placed the Coal Ash Management Commission it creates in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources rather than the Department of Public Safety: 7/14/2014

Under the legislation, dollars Duke Energy ratepayers could end up paying for cleaning up the company's coal ash dumps: billions

Amount the N.C. League of Conservation Voters is spending on TV ads calling out state House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis (R) for his role in weakening the coal ash legislation, which is being negotiated in a conference committee: $845,000

Date on which a group of North Carolina environmental activists attempted to deliver a fake check for $10 billion -- Duke Energy's estimated cost of cleaning up all its coal ash dumps -- to Tillis' U.S. Senate campaign office, saying it was compensation for his efforts to weaken the coal ash bill: 7/17/2014

(Click on figure to go to source.)

Image:

Activists with Greenpeace North Carolina and Charlotte Environmental Action attempted to deliver a fake check for $10 billion from Duke Energy to the U.S. Senate campaign office of state House Speaker Thom Tillis last week to draw attention to his role in weakening coal ash cleanup legislation. (Photo by Brieanna Carey for Greenpeace.)

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